Terminals of mobile communication systems are commonly sold in a package with prepaid SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, i.e. smart cards. Network operators typically offer these package deals including the mobile terminal and the prepaid smart card with a lower price than the price for separately purchasing the mobile terminal and the prepaid smart card. While subsidizing the price of the mobile terminal and thus providing a customer with an incentive for buying their mobile terminal+SIM card package, the network operators want to ensure their revenue from the usage of the mobile terminal. This is usually done with a so-called SIM lock feature, whereby the usage of the terminal with another SIM card is prevented until the customer contract expires, i.e. the prepaid SIM card has been totally debited.
Thus, the usage of the mobile terminal is limited to the services of a particular network operator. Along with the rapid development of mobile communication systems and mobile terminals, the number of various services offered in mobile networks, as well as the number of various features included in the terminals, has increased greatly. Current mobile terminals include various features, which are customizable by the terminal user: Internet browser home pages and favourite lists, various user interface settings, ringing tones, background images, etc. However, not all mobile terminal users, even though being interested in using the services, are familiar with these features or willing to spend time for searching and evaluating appropriate settings for their terminal. They could be willing to make a subscription of an update of certain feature settings fulfilling terms, which are predefined by the user. For example, the user could be willing to receive an automated update of favourite Internet links in certain fields of interest. Consequently, there exists a demand for some kind of automated update of at least a part of these customizable settings.
However, in the current mobile communication systems, there are no technical means for implementing this kind of a limited access to user customizable settings of the terminal. Currently only the user of the terminal may change the settings of these customizable features, whereby any change of the settings would require user intervention. A reason for this is that there is no secure and trusted method in the current mobile communication systems, which would prevent an unauthorized use of setting update. Furthermore, if the terminal includes a prepaid SIM, which has been locked with the SIM lock, the available supply of such services could be limited to the mobile subscriber's operator.
On the other hand, the network operator may not be willing to produce or capable of producing services supporting these features, e.g. due to lack of resources or as a deliberate business decision. Accordingly, the network operator may be willing to outsource the production of at least a part of these services to a third party. The network operator could then offer its network as a bearer service platform for the third party services, satisfy the customer demand for such automated update service (even with the SIM lock), and at the same time, gain more revenue from the third party service provider.
However, as stated above, despite the strong demand by both mobile terminal users and network operators for a service, wherein customizable features of mobile terminals could be accessed and modified, to a limited extent, by a third party, the technical shortcomings in the current mobile communication systems prevent the implementation of such a service.